Now That Wedding's Over, Goetze More Relaxed

LPGA NOTEBOOK

WEST PALM BEACH - — Could marriage be a lucky charm? Vicki Goetze will find out today.

Goetze was married to assistant club pro Jim Ackerman in Tampa on Jan. 4, the same day LPGA colleague Annika Sorenstam got hitched in Lake Tahoe.

Sorenstam won her next start, the Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions at Weston Hills.

Goetze is making her first start this week at the Diet Dr Pepper National Pro-Am since the wedding.

After a 4-under 68 on Saturday that included a 184-yard hole-out for eagle, Goetze is three strokes behind leader Kelly Robbins. Goetze, 24, had an outstanding amateur career, winning two U.S. Women's Amateurs, three PGA Junior Championships and two Doherty Cups. But she is still looking for her first LPGA win.

"I was very relaxed going into this week," Goetze said. "I didn't expect anything, so that made me relaxed. Things aren't bothering me as much as they could."

Goetze's last tournament was the JCPenney Classic, a team event outside Tampa in early December. After that she didn't play or practice for a month, the longest she had ever gone.

"I was busy getting ready for the wedding, and then we went on our honeymoon," Goetze said. "We went on a Caribbean cruise."

Goetze has known Ackerman for 31/2 years. He is an assistant at Bloomingdale Golfers Club in Valrico, where Goetze practices.

Goetze's biggest problem on tour has been "the distance issue," as she calls it. Last year she ranked 159th on tour with a driving average of 223 yards. She carries five woods in her bag (driver and 3, 4, 7 and 9 woods) and relies on her putting and short game to survive.

But a funny thing happened when she showed up this week. She's banging the ball longer than ever. On Saturday, she lashed a drive nearly 245 yards at the par-5 17th hole.

A stretch-runner

Kelly Robbins says she's comfortable playing in the lead, but she's proven to be a better come-from-behind player in her career.

Her lone victory last year, at the Twelve Bridges Classic, came when she shot a final-round 64. Her lone victory in 1995, the McDonald's LPGA Classic, came when she trailed Laura Davies by a stroke and shot 68 in the final round.

Meanwhile, she has led twice going into the final round the last two years and is 0-for-2.

At last year's rain-shortened LPGA Championship in Wilmington, Del., Robbins went into the final round with a one-stroke lead but she shot 79 to tie for 18th.

At the 1995 Friendly's Classic, Robbins went into the final round tied for the lead with Becky Iverson and she shot 72 to tie for second.

Hitting on the run

Laurel Kean, who trails by three, almost was disqualified for missing her tee time on Friday. Kean mistakenly thought there was a delay and backup at the first tee, so she lingered on the putting green. She made it to the tee with just 30 seconds to spare. "I told my caddie to just throw me the driver and I hit it," Kean said.